A Very Bran playthrough: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney!!

proving my worth

I do like this very visual novel approach to this game.

mr butz is kind of lame, i hope he doesn't last long

this "dude i'm so nervous" tutorial is rather silly but nice, I enjoyed it

I feel weird knowing who the culprit actually is before starting the trial, that is definitely cheating. I hope they do something good with my audience-only secret.

I turned on the music because I want to hear the OBJECTION if they have it

Man, that Sahwit guy is a smug bastard, i want him in jail

c-cross-examination!!? rubbing it in the witness' face!? what a game

oh boy, the other attorney's OBJECTION is amazing

dat toupe throw

some of the logic in this is incredible silly, such as the "YOU CAN'T PROVE THE CLOCK WAS 3 HOURS SLOW ON THE DAY OF THE MURDER I WIN" stuff

foaming at the mouth wow

is the defense guy allowed to say a person did it? I mean, this is japan and all, do they not have a jury which makes the decision?

confetti for mr butz, now that's a trial

this Mia is coming onto ace a BIT STRONG. there had better be sex in this T for Teen game

EPISODE 2 COMING SOON

EPISODE 2: turnabout sisters

woah, mia's sister is a qt

i am crying real tears. why did it have to be her. why does she still have to be warm as he holds her

when people go into shock, the amazing slap sound is just icing on the cake

dick gumshoe wow, he's my new favorite character

oh boy maya might be the new love interest. sex is still an option!!!!

"the only thing he's lacking is...experience "

(oops something has come up TO BE CONTINUED.)

EPISODE TWO PART TWO

so the cute sister is in jail oh boy

a spirit medium wow

i'm looking forward to an actual in-a-courtroom part again

how rude, asking me to find a different lawyer for her. am I not good enough for you :'(

april may, wow. This game is great at naming people

more innuendo oh boy

mr grossberg wowowowowowowowow what a fellow, and his background music is to die for

oops more things coming up this is awful returning to this in an hour or so!!

EPISODE TWO PART THREE (the no-more-interruptions section)

I am currently interviewing the cute sister about her MOTHER'S ENEMY

i cry out in anger "I WILL DEFEND YOU MAYA", all while upbeat music begins. i'm getting chills

A FLASHBACK!? how nice...oh dear it was just a quick image of Ace as a child

Mr. White, now that's some racism if i've ever read it why i can't I just be privileged in peace

snooping in the hotel, the thing I do best

FINALLY time for the trial

WOW that edgeworth is a smooth mafakka. what a nice neckpiece

hmm, the first witness? does that mean TONS of cross-examination!? that means tons of rubbing mmmm

floor maps? oh goodness this game goes all out

When Ace does the very dramatic two hand slap on the desk, I get goosebumps. ESPECIALLY when right afterwards he asks the dumbest question

The judge is groovy, I like him a lot. and I hope after this debacle Dick Gumshoe gets on good terms with sir Wright and they can boogie on to that distant etc.

I feel weird pressing sir gumshoe on everything but I don't see why i shouldn't

lordy, this contradiction is hard to find

oh there it is. and it only took me 2 out of my 5 exclamation marks

speaking of exclamation marks, EDGEWORTH

oh gosh all of these options of calling people shams, what if I don't want to call ANYONE a sham where is that option

oh boy second witness time

why does this girl live at a hotel? who in the world has enough money to live in a hotel permanently jeeeeeez

this is rather funny, I can imagine feminists being rather angry with how April May is behaving in this courtroom

after some quick work man is miss may angry. her breasts are also quite angry, seeing as they are flopping every which way

ACTION FACE SHOTS MAN THESE LAWYERS ARE GETTING INTO IT

wait wait wait, did the witness to the murder just admit to not being there to witness the murder i'm so confused

oh wait it was an alibi to why she couldn't have been in the office huh

oh dear, conditions on calling witnesses. this is definitely something that happens in actual courts of law

this blushing bell boy is pretty funny. what a guy

edgeworth being a lame now that's what I'm talking about

I am getting rather emotionally invested in this story, a nice game indeed

here we go more pre-court snooping. my least favorite part. I think this marks a good break point. TO BE CONTINUED sometime

an update for those who care:

Beat the 3rd episode wow what an episode

have been busy on and off today so i am not far into episode 4 but man do I look forward to it

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE FIRST THREE CASES

The first case does a great job of setting up the characters and gameplay. Not much else to it, really.

The second case is basically the game telling you it's not going to pull any punches. Mia's dead, bam. Plus, it introduces several of the best characters in the series; namely Gumshoe, Maya, and Edgeworth.
But I don't understand how Phoenix was able to use the wiretap as evidence. I mean, he stole it. Whatever, it gets worse later in the series anyway.
Also, the bellboy's super-great. Even the minor characters are charming and memorable.

The third case is kind of a slog in the middle, because the investigations have a lot of backtracking through the studio, several screens at a time. Hey, Dee wants a script from Sal! Let's go outside, down the path, past the guard station, into the employee area, and into Powers' trailer. But wait! He doesn't have it! Now we have to go outside, out of the employee area, past the guard station, down the path, into the studio. So let's get it to Dee! But first there's additional dialogue if we go see Sal with it! Fuck.
This case can be seen as "filler", since no one of note is at stake, but it's completely necessary to set up the characters. Phoenix gets to lecture Maya on stepladders and proclaim his love of tabloid newspapers, Maya gets to proclaim her love of children's television, Gumshoe gets to show how he's really a great guy, and Edgeworth gets his jimmies rustled by Oldbag. Also, how is ANY case with Oldbag filler?!
This case is also the first to have a twist, since they showed you the killer at the beginning of the first two. The twist was worth the investigation, I'd say.

CASE FOUR IS EVEN BETTER MANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
A FITTING END TO THE GAME
EXCEPT IT'S NOT THE END
OH DEAR

oh boy oh boy

I agree, the whole moving system is kind of a drag. too much movement and trying to figure out what to do. The only time I had to cheat to figure out what to do was because I didn't go into one certain room at a certain time. and it was the dressing room, which I had figured was kind of pointless to go into. but that was it!!

also, I am nearly done with the fourth case. they are currently hunting for the boat rental guy after he ran away oh boy.

also, von karma is so lame it hurts.

Tell me when you finish the case; there is a lot to discuss and I don't know what you've seen/haven't seen

I finished the fourth case late last night.

I am fearful of the fifth, since the fourth was such a perfect ending. Is it lame?

To answer your question, I don't know. A lot of people seem to love it, especially on /v/. I have a bunch of complaints about it, but it's definitely worth experiencing, since it introduces characters and plotpoints from Apollo Justice.
You can skip it if you want and come back after Trials and Tribulations, but it's fairly important.

Let me tell you about the majority thoughts on the series as a whole after the first, and then my thoughts.
Everyone says the second game, Justice for All, is the worst in the series. I agree, but only because there has to be a worst. They're all 10/10 games. People also say that, despite this, Justice for All has the best case in the series. I agree wholeheartedly. People also say that it has the worst case in the series. I disagree, but see where they're coming from.
Everyone says the third game, Trials and Tribulations, is the best in the series. I agree completely. It's fucking amazing, and has the second, third, and fourth best cases in the series (the first game has the fifth). But it also has the worst case in the series, I think.
Thoughts on Apollo Justice are mixed. Some hate it, some love it. I'm halfway through, and I loved the first two cases, so.
Thoughts on Investigations are generally positive, and I agree. It's still a 10/10, but it's pretty different.
BASICALLY PLAY THEM ALL

BUT THE FOURTH CASE MAN
My favourite cases are the ones with twists and complex thinking. 1-3 and 1-4 are the first examples of that.
I fucking loved how Larry turned the entire case around out of pure dumb luck. I fucking loved how Gordy, who appears to be a few throwaway lines at first, turns the case on its ear. I fucking loved how you cross-examined a fucking PARROT.
But it was really stupid for Phoenix to walk up to Manfred von Karma, Mr. Scary von Evil himself, and show him their decisive evidence which would put him in jail. Also, they were in a police station! Why didn't Phoenix report the obvious assault? GODDAMMIT PHOENIX

I agree, the third and fourth cases were great for making do more thinking. The first two were rather straight forward, where as case three and four you had to notice things in the evidence that weren't otherwise stated explicitly (number of bullets fired from weapons, yogi's fiancee's name, etc.)

I think i'll do the fifth later today and probably start on the second game tomorrow. It's a very interesting series and rather unique I think. Unfortunately that much reading really takes it out of me after a while.



also, cross-examining polly was the best part of the game.
and not just showing evidence to von Karma in a police station, but he tased both of them in the station. Like, there was yelling and screaming going on, how did no one notice?

"Oh, Mr. Edgeworth was complaining about all the noise in the station while looking at evidence, so I had the room soundproofed as a surprise, pal."

wow, the kawaii-ness of these girls keeps going up with each new appearance.

First Maya, then Penny the studio assistant, and now this Ema girl. Wow

Also, 5th case is quite clearly added on, all of the new characters move more fluidly, plus there's that animated "blue badger" thing



Answer the following question with a simple yes or no, it will determine how badly I want to continue to the second game:

Does Maya ever return for a significant amount of time (i.e. return to permanent team member status)?

Yes.
Every game has a teenage girl that follows you around.

Also, I'd totally appreciate it if you'd post when you finish a case, because I have a lot to say about the second and third games.

The first game, I'd place in the middle, quality-wise. A lot of the flaws are excusable due to the game being the first, and they were ironed out in the sequels. Most of my major comments are comparisons.
However, I'd like to say that the reason both the 1-1 and 1-2 show you the murderer at the beginning is that they were both designed as the first case of the game. 1-2 was the original opener, but they felt it was too long, and they wanted to give you a chance to get to know Mia. I'm not exactly a fan of this approach, since at least half the fun is figuring out who actually committed the crime.

yesterday a mate came over to play games for a while and then today I spent most of the day driving back to live-at school. I am currently playing, just listened to COUGH UP QUEEN give her testimony. I should have time tonight and tomorrow to finish this game and then move on if all goes well.

also, all of Ema's interjections are great, 10/10 best new sidekick

Ema was a pretty great stand-in for Maya, even if she wasn't nearly as fleshed out. But since she was created specifically for 1-5, she isn't in the next two games.

man, Angel Starr and the chief of police guy have those really annoying and unskippable animations between things they say. Not a fan.

also, just got the great ole Luminol spray stuff. Going well.

I always imagined Gant (the chief of police guy) as, well, you. His animations made me think he'd just ramble on and on about nothing, on purpose-like.

And, if you don't like the animations in this case, wait until Apollo Justice, which was also made for the DS.

I would like Gant more if he didn't remind me so much of the Art Teacher in Katawa Shoujo.

Also, I have struggled so much in this 5th case. Everything relies on very specific presentings or examinations, which gets more difficult considering i'm on 3 pages of evidence.

The worst is when you know what you want to prove, but don't know how.

been on and off busy today and yesterday, and probably tonight, but I'm playing now.

Also, I have had to cheat twice in the investigation after the day 1 trial. TWO times out of THREE times total

but how was I supposed to know to spray the lockers on the other side of the evidence room :'(

also, um, how do you get it to blow the dust off. I fiddled around with microphone settings but nothing is working.

I assigned "microphone" to the M key, and just holding it down blows the powder off. It stumped me the first time, too.

oh yes, works like a charm. Shame it takes like three hours to blow the powder off.

wow, I was doing it wrong for a long time, frustrated me to heck and back

Overall, I don't mind the "play scientist with Ema" thing. One touchscreen gimmick in Apollo Justice is much worse, and it honestly took me over five minutes to find where I fucked up. It was painful.

The main thing proven in the investigations is that the police department needs someone to flood the crime scene with luminol so they don't miss something a child spraying indiscriminately would find.